Each year, harmful medication errors involving injectable drugs cause many preventable adverse drug events. These medication errors include errors caused by the incorrect preparation of liquid medications, such as intravenous (IV) medications and liquid oral medications (herein referred to simply as “fluid” or “IV fluid”). For example, fluids can be incorrectly prepared when made with an incorrect drug, when prepared with an incorrect drug dose or drug concentration, or when prepared with expired or contaminated drugs. Such errors can be difficult, expensive, or impossible for pharmacists, caregivers, or care facilities to detect. For these reasons, drug preparation errors frequently go undetected.
After being prepared, a fluid is placed in a container, such as an IV bag or syringe. The container can be labeled with the identity of the fluid and drugs within the fluid. When the fluid is delivered to caregivers for administration to a patient, the caregiver checks the label to verify the correct identity of the fluid. If the label indicates the correct fluid, the caregiver administers the fluid. However, the caregiver generally has no way to verify that the label accurately identifies the fluid.
In light of the high number of drug preparation errors that occur despite current practices, it would be beneficial to develop systems and methods to reduce the occurrence of adverse drug events caused by incorrect drug preparation.